Brush means



Oct. 6, 1959 L. E. JONES 2,907,063

BRUSH MEANS Filed Dec. 10. 1954 IN VEN TOR.

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United States Patent BRUSH MEANS Lloyd' E. Jones, Arcadia, Califl, assignor to Industrial Brush Co., Inc., Arcadia, Califi, a corporation of California Application December 10, 1954, Serial No. 474,390

7 Claims. (Cl. 15-182) This invention relates to a brush means and more particularly to a brush construction comprising a plurality of driven brush segments assembled in such a manner as to afford quick change or replacement of any selected segment.-

The brush means of this invention is particularly adapted to industrial brushes used for washing external surfaces of buses, autos, trains, and other vehicles where the vehicle is slowly moved past a point at which a vertically disposed brush is located. Such prior brushes included a single elongated core means with spaced spider members and bristle means carried thereby of uniform external diameter. Various projections, recesses and irregularities on a side surface of a vehicle cause uneven andunequal wearing of bristles of such brushes. Such noneuniformwearing of the bristles finally result in nonuniform washing and cleaning. After such a prior brush has been adjusted to the limit provided by the supporting framework, such a worn brush was required to be removed in its entirety and replaced by a new brush. The worn brush was then either discarded or more often, repaired by replacing new bristle means for the worn bristles. Such repair was expensive, time-consuming and tedious because of the construction of prior brushes for this purpose.

The invention contemplates a novel brush construction adapted for the use described above wherein a brush means comprises a plurality of brush segments, the length of each brush segment being selected to correspond to zones of major wear caused by irregularities on the side of a vehicle to be washed. The brush construction of this invention provides means whereby a worn brush segment may be quickly and readily replaced with a minimum of time and labor.

It, is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to disclose and provide a novel, quick change, segmental brush construction which obviates the disadvantages of the prior brush constructions and which is inexpensive to manufacture and to repair.

An'object of this invention is to disclose and provide a. quick change, segmental brush construction wherein brush segments of varied, selected length may be easily assembled and disassembled. f

Another object of this invention is to disclose and provide a quick change segmental brush construction which is of lightweight and which is dynamically well balanced.

Another object of this invention is to provide a segmental brush construction wherein the brush means may be so designed as to aiford constant virtually uniform contact of the bristles of the brush with an irregular surface being cleaned.

A further object of this invention is to disclose and provide a segmental brush construction wherein a brush segment may be inexpensively and easily manufactured so that a worn brush segment may be discarded without economic loss.

A more particular object of this invention is to dis 2,907,063 Patented Qct. 6, 1959 flexibility of bristle arrangement so that the assembled brush means may be made of brush segments of different length, different character of bristles, and different di-- ameter of brush.

Generally speaking, this invention contemplates a brush construction comprising a plurality of hollow, tubular, open-ended core members of selected length; A brushstrip may be spirally wound around said core members and secured at each end by suitable securing or anchoring means. The anchoring means includes a reinforcing metal member which, together with a diametrically opposite end reinforcing lug, provides a driving connection with an adjustably positioned driving collar carried by a driving shaft. The collars are provided with through recesses or notches in alignment for permitting each core member of a segment to be passed thereover during assembly and disassembly.

Other objects and advantages of this inventionwill be readily apparent from the following description in which an exemplary embodiment of this invention is shown In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic end view showing a railway car and a brush means at one side thereof for cleaning the side surface of the car.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of a brush construction embodying this invention, the; sec tion being. taken in a longitudinal plane passingthrough the axis of the brush. a V i Fig. 3 is atransverse' section taken in the planeindicated by line III-III ofFig. 2.

Fig. 4' is an exploded, perspective view, of the core member and driving collar means shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view showing. anchoring means for one end of the brush strip carried by the coremember.

The vehicle 10 shown in Fig. 1 may be a railway car adapted to be moved past a washing and brushing location which includes one or more brush carrying devices generally indicated at 11. It is understood that the vehicle 10 may be any type of vehicle having external surfaces to be cleaned and washed, or may be any other objecthaving a relatively large surface irregular'or'regular, required to be cleaned and washed. While normally the brush device is stationed at one location it"is understood that the brush device may be arranged for movement along a surface to be cleaned. I I The brushdevice 11 may comprise a base 12 upon which may be supported a C-type frame structure 13 which may. carry at its top an electrical motor 14. Between the arms 15 and 16 of the C-frame may be supported a brush meansv 17 arranged with its axis vertical and provided with a driving connection to'motor 14. In this example, the brushv means 17 is illustrated as being formed of two separable brush segments 17a and 17b, each segment being of different length. It is understood two or more brush segments may be employed.

The brush means 17 may comprise a vertically disposed driving shaft 20, having any suitable well known driving connection to motor 14. .The driving shaft 20 is provided with a longitudinally extending keyway' 21 which may receive a complementary key portion 22 provided on each top driving. collar 23, intermediate driving collar 24, and bottom driving collar 25. Each collar 23,, 24 and 25 is provided with an axially'extending boss 26, 27 and 28 respectively, in which maybe provided 3 set screws 29, 30 and 31 for fixing the collars in position on shaft 20. The collars 23, 24 and 25 are ad ustably located in selected spaced relation on the driving shaft 20 in accordance with the lengths of the brush segments as described later,

The top and bottom driving collars 23 and 25 are similarly constructed and include a relatively thick section body provided with an outwardly directed circumferential flange 33 and 34, respectively. The outer diameter of flanges 33 and 34 may be approximately the same as the outer diameter of cylindrical core members 35 and 36 of brush segments 17a and 17b, respectively. Flanges 33 and 34 provide top and bottom seats foropposed end faces of the brush segments 17a and 17b.

Intermediate collar 24 may be of thicker section than collars 23 and 25 and, as illustrated, may be approximately twice the thickness of collars 23 and 25. The additional thickness serves a purpose later described.

Each brush segment 17a and 17b comprises a hollow, open-ended, tubular core member 36 and 37, respectively, provided with an uninterrupted, smooth, external, cylindrical surface. Each core member may be made of thin metal section, the metal preferably being a lightweight metal alloy such as an aluminum alloy. Tightly wound on the external, cylindrical surface of each core member is a flexible brush strip 40 including a U-shaped base member 41 and a plurality of bristles 42 secured in said base 41 and extending outwardly therefrom in a zone substantially perpendicular to the axis of the core member. Each brush strip 40 is spirally wound on the core member with the turns of the spiral in tight frictional contact therewith, and in relatively closely spaced relation to provide a brush of dense formation.

Means for securing each end portion of a brush strip 40 to the core member may comprise a bolt means 44 having a hooked end-portion 45 adapted to receive therewithin an endportion of thebrush strip. A relatively short shank of the bolt means may extend through an opening 46 provided in the core member adjacent to its end and also through an internal reinforcing element or lug 47 of rectangular shape secured against the internal surface of the core member. It should be noted that the shank of the bolt means 44 extends inwardly beyond the reinforcing lug 47 only a sufiicient distance to provide proper threading engagement with a nut 48.

Diametrically opposite the securing bolt means 44 each core member is provided with an internal rectangularly shaped driving element or lug 49, said driving lug 49 extending inwardly for approximately the same distance as the securing lug 47 and nut 48 and of virtually the same width.

The driving lug 49 at each end of the core member and the bolt means 44 and reinforcing lug 47 diametrically opposite thereto are adapted to be selectively received within diametrically opposite through notches 50 in circumferential margins of driving collars 23, 25 and within similar through notches 51 in collar 24. When the driving collars are properly positioned on the driving shaft 20 in spaced relation corresponding to the length of the brush segments, the joint line formed between adjacent brush segments 17a and 17b will lie approximately midway between driving collar 24. Thus as brush segment 17a rests upon the top edge face of brush segment 17b the internal driving lugs 47 and 49 provided on adjacent, opposed end portions of said brush segments will be accommodated within through notches 51 on driving collar 24 and, therefore, provide a driving connection between the driving shaft 20 and adjacent end portions of core members 36 and 37. The lugs at the opposite ends of the core members provide driving connection with the top and bottom collars 23 and 25.

Assembly of a brush means embodying this invention may be readily accomplished. After intermediate and bottom collars 24 and 25 have been secured with notches 1 and 50 in alignment and in selected spaced position 4 along driving shaft 20 by their respective set screws, the bottom brush segment 17b may be sleeved over the top of shaft 20 and the intermediate driving collar 24 by aligning the driving lugs 47 and 49 therein with the through notches 50 and 51 in said collars.

Brush segment 17b is passed over the driving collars until its bottom edge face is seated on flange 34 of bottom collar 25. Brush segment 17a may be then sleeved over the driving shaft until its bottom edge face seats against the top edge face of brush segment 17b. In such position the driving lugs on the brush segments are received within the through notches 51 on the intermediate collar 24. The top driving collar 23- may then be positioned in place so that flange 33 thereon will position and hold the brush segments 17a and 17b against longitudinal movement with respect to the shaft 20.

Disassembly of the brush segments from the brush roll means may be readily accomplished by reversing the assembly procedure outlined above. Thus a worn intermediate brush segment may be quickly removed and quickly replaced with a minimum of loss of operating time. Although assembly and disassembly of the brush segments has been described with respect to one end of the brush means, it will be understood that the assembly or disassembly may be performed from either end.

Although only two brush segments have been exemplarily shown in the embodiment of this invention, it is understood that under certain conditions it may be desir-' able to provide more than two brush segments. Furthermore, it may be desirable to provide a composite brush means formed of a plurality of such brush segments wherein certain of the brush segments may be provided with bristles having a different external diameter than the diameter of an adjacent brush segment. In the example described, the brush strip is relatively, closely, spirally wound on the core member to provide a dense bristle formation. It isunderstood that the spacing between the spiral turns of the brush strip may be increased so that a relatively less dense bristle formation may be utilized.

It is important to note that each brush segment is provided with driving lugs at opposite ends thereof and although the core member is of relatively thin section, the driving lugs not only reinforce and strengthen the end portions of the core members but also provide a positive drive means for transmitting torque to each brush segment from the assembled shaft and driving collars. In addition to providing such positive torque transmission, the driving lugs are longitudinally aligned so that they may be readily received Within the notches 50 and S1 in the driving collars and may be readily slipped over intermediate collars. Thus, worn brush segments may be readily replaced in a minimum of time and with a minimum of labor. 7

It is understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the construction of the brush segments of this invention and all such modifications and changes coming within the scope of the appended claims are embraced thereby.

I claim:

1. In a quickly assembled and disassembled segmental brush means, the combination of: a shaft; a plurality of spaced driving collars carried by said shaft and rotatable therewith, said collars having diametrically opposite longi tudinal through notches interrupting circumferentialmargins thereof, said collars being positioned to longitudinally align said notches; a plurality of brush segments sleeved over said shaft and collars, each brush segment comprising a hollow core member having an outer, cylindrical surface and a spirally Wound bl'llSh strip frictionally engaging said surface, each brush segment being provided with diametrically opposite, internal driving lugs at each end for interlocking reception with said through notches in said collars; and means on collars positioned at opposite ends of said plurality of brush segments for holding said brush segments against longitudinal movement.

2. In a quickly assembled and disassembled segmental brush means, the combination of: a shaft; a plurality of spaced driving collars carried by said shaft and rotatable therewith, said collars having diametrically opposite longitudinal through notches interrupting circumferential margins thereof, said collars being positioned to longitudinally align said notches; a plurality of brush segments sleeved over said shaft and collars, each brush segment comprising a hollow core member and a spirally wound brush strip thereon, each brush segment being provided with diametrically opposite, internal driving lugs at each end for interlocking reception with said through notches in said collars; and means to retain said brush segments against longitudinal movement.

3. In a quickly assembled and disassembled segmental brush means, the combination of: a shaft; a plurality of spaced driving collars carried by said shaft and rotatable therewith, said collars having diametrically opposite longitudinal through notches interrupting circumferential margins thereof, said collars being positioned to longitudinally align said notches; a plurality of brush segments sleeved over said shaft and collars, each brush segment comprising a hollow core member and a spirally wound brush strip thereon, each brush segment being provided with diametrically opposite, internal driving lugs for interlocking reception with said through notches in said collars; and means to retain said brush segments against longitudinal movement.

4. In a quickly assembled and disassembled segmental brush means, the combination of: a shaft; a plurality of spaced driving members carried by said shaft and rotatable therewith, said driving members being provided with a longitudinal through notch interrupting the peripheral marginthereof, said driving members being positioned to longitudinally align said notches; a plurality of brush segments sleeved over said shaft and driving members, each brush segment comprising a hollow core member and a spirally Wound brush strip thereon; means to secure said strip on said core member including a bolt means and an internal reinforcing lug; said reinforcing lug and adjacent portion of said bolt means interlockingly engaging said driving member by reception within said notch when said segments are in assembly and being adapted to be passed through said notches when said brush means is being assembled and disassembled.

5. A brush segment comprising: a hollow, open-ended, thin section tubular core member; a brush strip spirally wound on said core member; means securing said strip to said core member including a bolt means and an internal reinforcing lug, said internal reinforcing lug being adapted to provide a driving connection to an associated driving member.

6. A brush segment comprising: a hollow open ended, thin metal section, cylindrical core member having plain ends and external and internal cylindrical surfaces of uniform diameter throughout their length; a brush strip tightly, spirally wound on said external surface; securement means for each end of the brush strip adjacent each end of the core member, and longitudinally aligned internal lugs on said internal surfaces adapted to cooperate with an associated driving means, said securement means being longitudinally aligned and extending inwardly of the core member and cooperating with said internal lugs for affording a driving connection.

7. In a brush means, the combination of: a driving means including a shaft, a plurality of selectively spaced collars carried on said shaft, and means for adjustably mounting said collars longitudinally on said shaft; a plurality of brush segments, each having a hollow open-ended core member sleeved over certain of said collars, the end portion of each core member receiving at least a portion of a collar; a brush strip tightly, spirally wound on the external surface of each of said brush segments; securement means for each end of the brush strips adjacent each end of each core member; longitudinally aligned internal lugs on the internal surfaces of said core member; said securement means being longitudinally aligned and extending inwardly of the core member; and means provided on said collars for cooperating with said lugs and securement means for affording a driving connection from the shaft to the brush segments.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,727,627 Appleton Sept. 10, 1929 2,045,373 Scully June 23, 1936 2,349,643 Wesemeyer May 23, 1944 2,553,748 Carlson May 22, 1951 r 2,575,635 Meyer Nov. 20, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 20,847 Great Britain Sept. 4, 1902 

